MSNBC airs a nightly show called *Hardball with Chris Matthews* which would be more adequately named *Oddball Chris Matthews*.  Mathews recently attacked William Barr over the assignment of U.S. Attorney John Durham to investigate the origins of the Trump-Russia probe.  From a [Fox News article](https://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/msnbc-chris-matthews-ag-barr-protect-trump), *Oddball Chris Matthews* commented:

> It’s an embarrassment to have an attorney general who looks like a Roy Cohn, a guy who will do anything to defend the president and now has become his hitman

and went on to say

> Not only will he play defense, he’s out to destroy the government, the FBI, everything in order to cover the tracks of the president. What do you make of this guy and how can you stop Barr from doing what he’s out to do now, destroy the FBI?

*Oddball* can't see through his hatred of President Trump to even consider that the potential use of our government resources against a citizen and sitting President is the real threat to our government.  There were [five investigations into the alleged collusion between President Trump and the Russians](https://www.brennancenter.org/blog/trump-russia-investigations) all failing to develop evidence of criminal activities tying President Trump to the Russians.  The Mueller investigation was the most famous of these investigations but there were also two in the House of Representatives and two in the Senate spanning almost three years and spending over $20,000,000 of taxpayer money to find nothing.  All of this time, President Trump cooperated with the investigations up to the point of not sitting for an interview with Mueller which would have been nothing more than a perjury trap.

The reference to [Roy Cohn](https://www.history.com/news/roy-cohn-mccarthyism-rosenberg-trial-donald-trump) goes back to the era of McCarthyism when Roy Cohn was a young prosecutor attempting to purge our government of communists with little or no proof.  Cohn at one point was the attorney of a younger Donald Trump which for liberals simply intensifies the implication that Trump, Barr, and Durham will simply attempt to purge the government of anyone that disagrees with Trump.

Although [MSNBC refers to *Oddball* as a "veteran journalist"](http://www.msnbc.com/hardball/about) in my opinion he lacks all the [principles of ethical journalism](https://ethicaljournalismnetwork.org/who-we-are/5-principles-of-journalism) which include 

1. Truth and Accuracy
2. Independence
3. Fairness and Impartiality
4. Humanity
5. Accountability

*Oddball* has been "honored" for his work however by the Media Research Center (MRC) for some of his work:

- in 2011 [MSNBC = Mean-Spirited, Nasty, Belligerent Chris Award](https://www.mrc.org/notable-quotables/best-notable-quotables/2011#tab13)
- in 2012 [The Obamagasm Award](https://www.mrc.org/notable-quotables/best-notable-quotables/2012#tab3)
- in 2013 the MRC awarded him with the [The Ku Klux Con Job Award for Smearing Conservatives with Phony Racism Charges](https://www.mrc.org/notable-quotables/best-notable-quotables/2013#tab2)
- again in 2014 the MRC awarded him with the [The Ku Klux Con Job Award for Smearing Conservatives with Phony Racism Charges](https://www.mrc.org/notable-quotables/best-notable-quotables/2014#tab8)

*Oddball* has seen his share of "success" in being rewarded for his efforts.  He was also runner up for other awards from the MRC, often being beaten by himself.

In 2017, it was made public that *Oddball* was hit with a [sexual harassment charge](https://www.reviewjournal.com/news/nation-and-world/msnbc-paid-woman-who-said-hardball-host-chris-matthews-harassed-her/) in 1999.  In this case, MSNBC dutifully paid off the female staffer making the charge and as a contingency of her payoff left her position with MSNBC.  With this background, *Oddball* pushed against the confirmation of Brett Kavanaugh for Supreme Court Justice.  Kavanaugh never admitted to any guilt of his accusations and there was never any substantial evidence other than the accusations of sexual misconduct themselves, but the staffer being paid by MSNBC to leave the network after the accusation against *Oddball* could be construed as admission of guilt.

*Oddball* should not be considered a journalist, he's a politically motivated hack.  Of course, he's exactly what the executives at MSNBC want in a "journalist".  I guess if you consider MSNBC a dependable news outlet to be trusted, you will also consider *Oddball* to be a journalist.